


what if i told you, i feel like i know you? but we never met.

by annmeredithperkins



Category: The West Wing
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - High School, F/M, Only a one shot, fluffy as fuck though, gay little sam seaborn, it’s cuter than im making it sound i promise, josh sees pretty girl and cannot stop talking to her, samjosh non biological brothers, she’s in high school he’s in college but not in a weird way, the intent is a little best friend’s older brother energy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-25
Updated: 2021-02-25
Packaged: 2021-03-16 13:00:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,077
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29700924
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/annmeredithperkins/pseuds/annmeredithperkins
Summary: Donna Moss meets an unfamiliar face when she knocks on Sam Seaborn’s door for their English project. His name’s Josh Lyman and he’s good at bothering people.
Relationships: Josh Lyman/Donna Moss
Comments: 13
Kudos: 56





	what if i told you, i feel like i know you? but we never met.

**Author's Note:**

> hi guys! considered adding this as a chapter in my j/d one shots fic but this is a little longer than usual and those stick pretty well to the canon characters whereas this is a totally unrelated story. i can’t tell if it’s obvious in how i write but i am NOT american and trying to understand the schooling system took a little bit of assistance. anyway, hope you enjoy!

Donna was ninety nine percent sure that Sam had never mentioned having a brother. She’d given him ample opportunity whenever she ranted about her own, whispering aggressively in the back of homeroom as her pen engraved doodles into the desk and Sam nodded absentmindedly. It wasn’t that he wasn’t listening or didn’t share his input; it was just subtler and rarely required retracting attention from the discussion of the teacher. Sam had an ability for multitasking Donna longed for and it was one of the reasons she’d been so excited to accept this partnership for the project.

Their senior year had been a heady combination of knuckling down for college applications and parties that left Donna giggly, but the majority had been spent with Sam by her side, correcting language in her essays and holding her up on the sidewalk. So she’d prayed a little they’d be assigned together for this English analysis. They had a comfortable rhythm, never mind the fact that Sam was an exceptionally talented writer. 

The walk to his door was brief so Donna had forgone her trusty coat, enjoying the slight chill of the January air as it whipped her blonde strands towards her face. Her hands were tucked into her long sleeves as she rapped on his front door, greeted by an unfamiliar face.

“Hi.” She spoke skeptically, studying the mess of a man in front of her. His hair was erratic, and couldn’t decide whether it wanted to be brown or not, flecks of ginger littering his curls. He wore a flannel around 3 sizes too big, sleeves aggressively rolled to his elbows, exposing fairly well toned arms as he crossed them over his chest. He was scanning his eyes over her too, lips twitching, before he let out an overly cocky greeting. “Hi.” 

“I’m Donna Moss.” Like that would clarify anything. 

“Josh Lyman.” His smirk was obnoxious, and she noticed her mind briefly wander to ways to remove it. 

“Am I… Did Sam move?” She tilted her head slightly and Josh struggled to hold back a smile at the small gesture, shaking his head. 

“Sam.” He called back into the house, not breaking eye contact with his new acquaintance. “There’s a Donna here for you. Did you switch teams and forget to tell me?”

Donna rolled her eyes. “Are you his.. brother?” 

She sees the flaw as she asks; this man is chaos everywhere Sam is ordered. His eyes a deep brown, indecisive in colour as his hair, in contrast to the impossibly pale blue of her best friend’s. 

Josh exhaled a small laugh. “No. You his girlfriend?” He teased, fishing for any kind of information on her. 

“You know I’m not.” Donna had been the second person Sam had come out to, hugging him so tightly he worried for his ribs. She hedged a guess the first was probably standing in front of her. 

Sam bounded out, poking his head around where Josh was stood in the doorway, still skirting his gaze over the guest. 

“Donna. I’m so sorry. This is Josh.” The man in question flashed a false, toothy smile. 

“Uh huh.” Donna nodded, Josh chuckling at the uninformative exchange. 

“Cool. Now that’s covered, I need coffee.” He spun before pivoting back immediately, pointer finger aimed directly at her. “Donna, coffee?” 

An inexplicable thrill of shock ran through her. Like a déjà vu from a parallel universe. Really, it was probably taking a beat to register just how forward and comfortable he was being. She noticed the semblance of dimples in his cheeks and wondered if she could find a way to see them today. Donna gave a small nod before turning her attention to Sam, pulling him into her arms as a greeting. 

“Come on, let’s go upstairs.” He murmured into her shoulder before leading her through the house, letting Josh hop up onto the kitchen island as he set the coffee maker. 

“Who-?”

“Josh?” Sam didn’t wait for her response as he continued to his room. “He lived down the street and we’ve been friends for, well, years. His mom moved away when he left for college so he stays in the spare room during the holidays. Clearly I need to let him outside more. I've never seen him so welcoming to visitors.” At that point he glanced back, raising an eyebrow and searching for any visible reaction from Donna, whose neck was flushing a little red. 

She was settling in Sam’s chair, smoothing the pages of her battered Anna Karenina as he took a space leant against some drawers on the floor when Josh reappeared, juggling the two cups of coffee like they posed a huge challenge. The man had clearly never worked a hospitality job in his life. 

“I didn’t know how you took it so I kind of just… made it like mine.” He blushed, actually blushed, struggling to place it non precariously on a flat surface. She smiled gratefully, blowing a short stream of cool air over the drink before letting the warm liquid seep down her throat. 

“This is practically sugar.” Donna raised an eyebrow and Josh shrugged, perching on the desk next to her and taking a sip from his own mug. 

“Whatcha doing?” He whispered. 

“English.” She mimicked, hers of the stage variety. 

“Cool, I do English.” Josh brightened. “Lemme look.”

“You’re an English minor.” Sam interjected, not looking up from where he was rapidly scribbling notes, the paper atop a binder resting on his knees. 

“Still a step ahead of you, Seaborn.”

“Don’t you have your own work to do?” He flicked his free hand absentmindedly in Josh’s vicinity, as if it would scare him off. 

“Nope.” Josh shuffled to make himself comfortable, popping the p and grinning directly at Donna. “I think you may find me valuable.”

“Is it your superior intelligence?” She proposed, resting the unused tip of her pencil on her bottom lip. Before Josh could answer, he was interrupted. 

“Mention your SAT scores and you’re out.” Sam groaned, receiving no acknowledgement from the other party, who had become distracted by the thought of whether Donna used some kind of lipgloss. 

“It’s because I did this assignment two years ago.” Josh winked and Donna stifled a laugh. 

“Now I need a coffee.” Sam declared, dropping his work and raising himself back up, arms extending above his head to stretch them. 

“I left the pot on the counter. Help yourself.” 

He paused in the doorway, turning to his friends with a suspicious look. 

“Don’t. Just. Be nice to her.” Sam begged, receiving another exaggerated smile from Josh and an eye roll from Donna. Not ten seconds after Sam’s departure, Josh was watching her annotate, swaying his foot slightly as he stared. 

“Tell me about yourself, Donna.” 

“Let’s see. I’m originally from Wisconsin, moved here a year or so back. My favourite colour is orange.” She raised her head to make direct eye contact with Josh as she continued. “I’m trying to do my school work but I’m seemingly being interrupted by an incredibly distracting presence.”

“Incredibly distracting, huh?” His expression was smug. 

She shook her head. “That’s not what I meant. At all.” 

“Was it Tolstoy who talked about how our brains are ninety percent unconscious thought? Probably just unconscious thought.” 

“That was Freud.” Josh would enjoy being corrected a million times over if it came with her amused twinkle. 

“Ah. Okay.” She found herself focusing on the way the words fell off his tongue, the A’s and O’s indistinguishable as he pronounced them. 

“English minor?” She took another sip of the warm beverage, attempting an adjustment to its sweetness. 

“Law major. More of my strong suit.”

“Well, if I ever commit any crimes, I’ll have someone to call.” His face lit up and she hoped it was from the prospect of allowing her to see him thrive in his passion rather than an intrigue to watch her break the law. 

“Yeah.” Josh breathed out. 

“Right, let’s get to it!” Sam returned, downing a substantial amount of his drink before clapping his hands together and picking up his previous writings. 

Josh and Sam had the rapport of siblings, and Donna prided herself on not being too off in her initial assessment. She noticed the elder couldn’t stay put for long, flitting around Sam’s room impatiently, as he interrupted with inputs. Granted, they were usually helpful, although a couple seemed intended to tease Sam as some form of inside joke. Donna didn’t mind not understanding, happy to just observe how they acted around each other, and how Josh’s gaze would often flick back, as if he was checking up on her. 

They’d achieved a fair amount by the time Sam’s phone started ringing, abruptly breaking Josh and Donna from their game of increasingly unsubtle glances. 

“It’s my dad. Hang on a second.” Sam glared at the device, already anticipating an inconvenience. 

Josh looked at Donna and pulled a face, both familiar with the man’s habit of taking advantage of his son’s natural altruism. 

“I’m so sorry. I have to go sort this. God, he drives me crazy.” Sam ran a hand through his hair, a habit he picked up from Josh and rarely indulged in, a sign of his more obvious stress. 

“No need to apologise to us, man. Go. I’ll see Donna makes it back okay.” 

Sam bit his lip as he leant against the doorway. “You sure?” 

Josh patted him on the shoulder, squeezing slightly to work out some tension. “I won’t let you down.”

“You never do.” He looked grateful; Donna producing a smile at the exchange. 

They’d watched as the exasperated Sam fumbled for his keys and heard the car leave the driveway a minute later. Donna packed her novel back into her tote and followed Josh out onto the sidewalk soon after. 

“You know I only live a couple streets away?” The sun was lowering in the sky, the pinks of the sunset beginning to peak out and cast glows over their faces. Josh had noticed the time of day and donated his flannel to Donna, the fabric grazing her knees, softer and thicker than she was anticipating, to combat the cold. 

“Can never be too safe. I grew up in this neighbourhood. Faced some real rough characters.” She tossed him a questioning look and noticed he was trying to be serious, the corners of his mouth rising only slightly as he looked back. 

“You did?” Donna indulged. 

“Uh huh. Mr Bartlet’s dog knocked me off my bike once. Doesn’t like bikes. Got this scar here.” He motioned to his now exposed tricep, running a finger along the white mark and nodding for Donna to do the same, her trailing the gentlest touch along his arm. 

“And Mr Ritchie is a Republican bigot.” They broke contact as Josh continued, walking comfortably close at a leisurely pace as they rounded onto Donna’s street. “At least I think so. He really wasn’t happy when me and Sam lost a baseball through his dining room window.”

Donna snorted and Josh returned the laugh, an air of indignance from his actual dislike of the man. He watched her tuck a strand of blonde behind her ear and figured now was the best time for his impulsive nature. 

“Donna?”

“Yeah?” She turned, her grin making him question what on earth magical powers this girl had that in mere hours of knowing her, he felt like she was the only person he’d ever met, trapped in an infinite bubble between Sam’s house and her own. 

He’d halted, scuffing the paving with his shoe and rubbing the back of his neck with his hand. “I’m sorry if this is super forward but I really liked spending time with you today and I was wondering-“ Donna cut him off by pressing her lips to his, opening his mouth slightly beneath her own as her palm came to rest on his jaw. She pulled back, relaxing off the tips of her toes and smiling bashfully as Josh’s fingers touched the ghost of her on his lips. 

“Sorry. You looked really nervous and it was cute. Figured why not.” She shrugged, noticing how his eyes widened at the description of himself. Evidently he’d wished to play it slightly cooler, which Donna just found more adorable. 

“Why not indeed.” Josh smirked, retaining some of his so desired sarcastic charm. “I’ll take that as yes then?”

“Yes, Josh. I’ll go out with you.” 

  
  



End file.
